Start of Something New
by The Needless Lobsters
Summary: Two People. One Bar. One late evening. Finn and Rachel never believed in fate, until one encounter changes everything.


Finn walked into the dimly lit room and slumped himself at the bar, slapping ten dollars on the table. He smelt the liquor the moment he opened the door; the noise from the regulars filling the would be, silence. His thoughts were broken by the brunette standing before him, sliding him a drink across the bar top.

"Bourbon? How did you know?" He asked giving her a small smile.

"Lucky guess." She replied giving him a wink, dring off a glass, placing it back on the shelf. She turned back towards him. "Rough day?"

"The worst."

"Need to vent?"

"You're a beautiful young woman. Why would you want to listen to me spill my troubles?"

"Because, everyone needs a friend. And you're quite handsome youself." She paused and gave a small smile.

"Please?"

"Where do I begin?"

"At the beginning?" She asked.

"That'll take a while."

"Well, how about you skip to why you're here at the bar."

"Because my life sucks."

"I doubt that's true."

"I just lost the biggest case of the year, along with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."

"You're a lawyer?"

"District Attorney."

"I see, and the money?"

"What my client was going to pay me. Now I only get a third of it."

"That's $75,000 - its better than nothing."

"I guess so."

"Believe me. If I made as half as much as that I would be thankful. Look at me. I'm a bartender works seven nights a week just to make rent."

"Doesn't matter."

"I live with a roommate because I can't even afford my own place."

"It doesn't always have to be like that."

"That's easy for you to say, you actually went to college."

"You didn't?"

"My parents, they couldn't afford to send me. They only had enough to start me off here in New York. I mean, I wanted to go to college, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be."

"You didn't get a loan or anything?"

"No. One look at me, and they swept me under the rug like dirt. They said I was too poor to even warrant having the smallest of loans because I needed at least fifty thousand dollars to start me off."

"That's not fair."

"Nothing ever is."

"Didn't you negotiate, or search for another college?"

"No. I knew I wanted to be in New York. No other schools would take me. I spent weeks finding somewhere, and they all refused. Turns out the city of dreams is more the city of disappointment."

"How did you end up here?"

"My friend Santana, she's um… well… she doesn't have a typical job. She comes here after work to 'relax' as she calls it. I needed money, she knows the boss, she paid me in a favour."

There was a silence between them, not an awkward but a comfortable one. They stayed like that for several minutes as she dried up more glasses and placed them back under the bar.

"Do you like working here?"

"Yeah, I do actually. I mean, its nothing like Coyote Ugly, and I cant even attempt to try the throw the bottles up in the air and catch them then flip them over kind of tricks, but it pays a decent amount. It's enough to get me by. It's also the only bar around that isn't filled with bar fights every night."

"That's good, but is it really what you want to do?"

"No. I'm just waiting for my big break."

"You're an actress?"

"Barely. I haven't been successful at one audition yet."

"Television or Broadway?"

"You know about Broadway?"

"I've lived in New York all my life, I should know."

"Broadway, however, if I got my break on television, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"That's amazing. I wish I had talent like yours."

"You've never seen my talent."

"You're smart, beautiful, and I bet you have the most amazing singing voice, if its anything like your speaking voice. I don't need to imagine what you're talent is like. I believe you're amazing."

"Are you trying to flirt with me?"

"Maybe. Is it working?"

She gave him a small smile.

"Is that a cheesy pick up line?"

"Maybe. If I said it was, would you go out with me?"

"I hardly know you."

"All the more reason to go out with me; we can get to know each other better."

"I'll think about it."

He finished the last remaining drops of his Bourbon and handed her the glass to which she smiled and placed it in the sink with the other glasses. He got up from his chair and was about to walk out the door, when he heard a voice calling for him.

"I'm sorry, I never got your name."

"Finn," he paused, "Finn Hudson."

"Well, Finn Hudson, call me." She handed him a card with her cell phone number on it.

"Wait. Your name?"

"Rachel. Rachel Berry."

"One last question."

"Go on…"

"How do I find you? Where do I find you?"

"If you ever want to see me again… you'll figure it out." She paused and smiled to herself, which Finn did the same.

"Goodnight, Mr Hudson."

"Goodnight, Miss Berry."

She winked at him and he gave her a kiss on the cheek before she walked back to the bar, and he walked out the door.

He smiled to himself as he walked himself home, his mind wandering back to Rachel.


End file.
